Sci-fi macro sushi shots

Suzy and the Moose very kindly brought sushi round to the Cross the other night. It came from the delectable selection available at the Japan Centre which is, to my taste, the best takeaway sushi I've had in London. I'm not quite sure what was in the first roll pictured and I must confess that I was at first slightly concerned that it might not be veggie, but I think it was and the mish-mash of colours is proof of the eclecticism you can find in Japanese sushi (the nicest thing about this variety was that it was full of something crunchy, which may have been toasted sesame seeds, but may have been something else entirely). The avocado makki is more explainable and no less yummy for its familiarity.

How do you make a parmesan crisp?

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You scatter grated parmesan in a disk on a frying pan (no oil), heat it up, start to worry a bit, turn the heat off, fail to notice to that you've actually turned the heat of the risotto off, ignore the extra work you are causing the risotto stirrer, and hey presto, after a few more minutes of cooking, and some cooling time, you have a parmesan crisp for the top of your risotto.

Hot Shots: Part Deux

Back to pudding shots inspired by eating out, and I think I've discovered a new one which is a fairly ridiculous and fun way to end a meal. I made my apple pie shots with cinammony yoghurt, but that seems quite staid next to a glass filled with, from the base, crunched up ginger biscuit, yoghurt with candied fruit, frozen lemonade, and then some watermelon Pop Rocks: zing, crinkle, crunkle, kapow, I like Pop Rocks and the specialist sweetie shop Cyber Candy, in Covent Garden, which supplied them.

This is the power of Macro

Back to Kalendar in Dartmouth Park after an exceedingly bracing swim at Hampstead lido - pool temp down to 11 and outside it was 8, um, er, chufty budge awarded please? - which was very lovely as it was a sunny morning. It took a while for my teeth to stop chattering, but when they did I was ready for some splendid eggs florentine which, as I hope the pictures show, were composed with great delicacy and while there still wasn't enough hollandaise, there was masses of spinach, and I trust the pictures convey some of my delight as the plate was set in front of me. They're taken on the macro setting, so I am learning! As I have eveidently learned to love eggs!!

Canon can

My camera is back! Well, the brother of the brother of the brother of the original Canon is back, and I am just delighted to have an Ixus once again. Please send me tips as to how I can make sure I don't lose this one.

Its initial outing was to Shikara in Fitrovia, an Indian place that Number7 and I chanced upon as we strolled between other Indian restaurants which we rejected on the bases of their prices and their slightly strange menus. The resto turned out to be just what we wanted, as we knew from the moment that we looked at the menu: no nonsense tasty food at pretty reasonable prices, with a few Tiger beers and nice service to ease us into the weekend. Poppadoms were excellent as they came with really good chutneys (one of the photos shows the merits of adding all four chutneys to a piece of poppadom), while Number7 seemed very pleased with her generous portion of a spicy chicken dish whose name this vegetarian has forgotten. I had a side of saag paneer which was nicely candy-ish in that way it can be and some hot and sour potatoes, the name of which escapes me, but this was the first time I had seen these babies on a menu since leaving Sharj. They were suitably sour and with some garlic naan they made for a real feast. Friday was really one of those days when I craved Indian food - I want to say 'I needed it' - and it's nice to go somewhere that really sates that craving.

That low winter sun

For no good reason today began, as yesterday had, with exercise. I'm not sure I ever expected to spend a Sunday running out of London towards the M25, past the houses of footballers and their wives, marvelling at the tackiness of their gates and the size of their packs of rottweilers on display, but plod, plod went the Enfielder and I, through Cockfosters, Oakwood and lots of other places which had previously just been names on a tube map to me. After some shooting the breeze we then headed to Cafe Nero with E for pannini, and the mozzie and tomato one tastes pretty good after all that pavement pounding.

In the name of avoiding work, I then walked west from London Fields, down trendy Broadway Market where I felt very uncool compared with the fashionistas with their big shades, through Columbia Road (where some great flowers can be had at bargain prices at the end of the day, down Brick Lane and then awandering home. In Brick Lane I stopped off at one of the Beigel places to pick up some granary bread for a bit of a cooking session tonight. I also bagged two 'bowl fors' or 'quid fors' - I can never remember what they call those plastic bowls of fruit and veg which are a nugget each - of shallots and limes, at the super bargain rate of two bowls for £1.50, end of the day offer guv. What I plan to make is a plate of shallots roasted in honey and sesame seeds, slices of avocado, roasted toms with herbs, cucumber in salt, chilli and lime, and lots of bread and aioli on the side.

Cy Twombly never fails to rock my world

If you're going to pay...
but hang on, some backstory: today began with a swim outdoors at Hampstead, after which you feel really quite awake, and then continued in the British Library, where I managed to hit my word target for the day in just four hours. Some hurrahs later I found myself in the new pop art exhibition at the Gagosian which, at the risk of hyperbole, is one of the greatest exhibitions of modern art I've ever seen, and it is but two streets away from me, so I will go back and back and back. And then a bit later I was walking towards Islington to buy fruit and vegetables and on this day of great London things, I thought I'd pop into Paul A. Young, chocolatier

So, if you're going to pay £2.75 for a chocolate brownie - in a city where every single cake shop seems to make them - you know that you have to go "Sweet Jesus" as you bite into it. Luckily Paul A. Young came up trumps and this was one of the deepest and most satisfyingly rich cakes I've had in a long time. As readers of this blog know, that includes a fair sample of cakes. In truth the brownie is so rich and so heavy that it would make a great treat for two, but since I had a feeling that I had a cold coming on, I figured that the extra chocolate was probably medicinal in my case. I bought some chocs too, though I'll save them for another day...